Matt. xviii. 2, 3. and Luke xviii. 15, 16, 17. "And they brought unto him also infants that he would touch them; but his disciples saw it and rebuked them; but Jesus called them unto him and said, Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of heaven." See also Mark x. 14. After reading this, I am satisfied that whatever depravity Adam brought on his posterity by his transgression, it was so far done away, by the coming and sacrifice of Christ, that men have much less need to fear its consequences than they have those they bring on themselves by their own actual rebellion against that divine light and grace which is vouchsafed unto them for their salvation, if they obey it and work with it. From all the foregoing circumstances, and many others that might be named, I am satisfied in my own mind that this divine light or grace is given to every man in order to regenerate and bring him from a state of nature into a state of grace, as well as to redeem him out of that state of human depravity, into which he falls by disobeying it; for God undoubtedly is equal in all his ways; and this accords well with that scripture" And this is the condemnation, that light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil." John iii. 19. By grace ye are saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. I conclude that it will not be contended that this grace and light are not one and the same thing.

I shall now notice, that in page 33, he accuses the Quakers with misapplying scripture, because they apply that text, 1 Cor. xii. 7. to any others besides those Paul had reference to as having spiritual gifts. But I shall conclude for myself that the misapplication is on

his part, until he proves that every man has those gifts. For the text is expressly that it is "given to every man to profit withal," not only to every man that was a teacher for the edification of the church. It becomes him therefore to make good his assertion, to prove every man a teacher, before he can justly charge the Quakers with misapplying the text. I should dispute his right to determine that a few teachers constituted every man; nor do I conceive that his assertion, that Paul's epistles to the Corinthians were addressed to the righteous only, is correct; for Paul's mission clearly appears to be to convert sinners, and epecially so in this epistle; for, observe the first and second verses of the third chapter: "And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual but as unto carnal-even as unto babes in Christ" telling them plainly that they remained carpal at that very time. Ver. 3. "For ye are yet carnal ; for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?" If I had leisure to follow our opponent through all his charges against the Quakers, for misapplying scripture and perverting it, I should apprehend but little difficulty in shewing the defect to be on his part; and generally as clearly as in the present cases"; and I think with as much propriety, if not more, could say as he does, that by such methods of applying scripture any thing he chose might be proved from it, or from the Bible. I cannot but notice his weakness (or perhaps it would bear a harsher name) when in page 34 he quotes Barclay speaking of the parable of the sower, and finds fault with him for saying, "That this saving light and seed, or a measure of it, is given to all," saying," Christ tells us expressly in the parable of the sower, that this seed, sown in the several sorts of ground, is the word

of the kingdom which the Apostle calls the implanted, ingrafted word, which is able to save the soul." And Rand says, after commenting on the efficacy of the word preached, &c. "I do not find that the Apostle ascribes this saving power in the word, in the hearts of any besides believers. Our Lord in the parable does not call it either implanted, or ingrafted, in either of the four cases he describes, except in the case of those who are represented by the seed sown in good ground." Now does he not mean to represent a difference in the seed sown? because our Lord did not call it the implanted or ingrafted word, or because it did not bring forth equal fruit, in the different ground, or because he is not willing to admit it so, except in the good ground, as not answering his purpose so well. If so, I would have it observed, that our Lord tells his disciples plainly, "that this seed is the word of God." Luke viii. 11. And was not that the ingrafted word or word of equal power, fall on what ground it would? and if it was not the ingrafted word, I would ask him what word it was: for my part I am satisfied that the word or seed was the same in every ground; but the reason why it did not. bring equal fruits was because the ground, viz. the hearts in which it fell, did not produce fruit, but rejected it to their own destruction.

In page 35 he talks about the awakening and convincing operations of the spirit, as though he was about to turn Quaker, but at other times we find him ridiculing it as if believing in its operations on the mind was mere enthusiasm. But it is true he puts it in conjunction with the gospel, as if he did not know that the spirit, the gospel, and the power of our Lord and Saviour, were inseparable; but when he comes directly to the

point of human depravity, it may be observed, that Ire is setting forth a situation exactly such as was that of the people Paul was writing to in his first epistle to the Corinthians, whom he says were believers, if Paul there describes them right. See page 33. "For if the carnal mind in the Romans was enmity against God, it must of course be so in the Corinthians." After very correctly quoting Rom. viii. 6, 9. he asks, Does not the apostle in this passage speak of two classes of men, as opposite to each other as light and darkness ?" No doubt he does, and he as plainly decribes what makes the distinction, through that whole chapter. I will mention a few passages, and request the reader to examine the whole chapter. Ver. 1st: "There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus, that walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit. Ver. 13, 14 For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die; but if ye, through the spirit, do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live; for as many as are led by the spirit of God, they are the sons of God. Which plainly shews, that all that made the difference between the two classes, was, the one submitted to the spirit, to be led by it, and thereby became the sons of God; rejected and despised it, and therefore the flesh, and became enemies to God;

:

but the other walked after

for, observe,

by the fall,

the apostle no where intimates any loss which is not made up by the offering of Christ,* and gift of his holy spirit, if we will submit to its cleansing operations. This makes the difference, in the two classes Paul speaks of, viz. the obedient and the dis bedient; for the whole gospel plan is built upon the

*For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. 1 Cor. xv. 22.

it and perish.

condition of obey the gospel and live, or rebel against And after all the speculations on -human depravity, we must depend on the divine mercy, and our obedience to what God has pleased to manifest to be our duty; for he will not judge according to that we have not, but according to that which we have; and he that will not be led by the spirit of God will be none of his; but to as many as are led by his spirit, he will give power to become the sons of God, however men may deride or reject it and these two characters constitute the good and evil ground.

Whatever depravity Adam's fall subjected his posterity to, it is clear there is no imputation of any guilt to them until, by actual transgression, they deprave them. selves; else our Saviour would not have testified that infants were such subjects as were fit for the kingdom.

I will remark on one more of his assertions, in page 35, and then leave him to remain in his depravity until he is willing to accept of the only means that can help him out of it, viz. the leading, guiding and teaching of that grace and holy spirit of truth, that Christ promised to give to all that humbly ask it, without limit to time,. place, age or sex.

"The truth is, God is good, and our lives are filled with his goodness to body and soul, though we have no disposition without his special grace to obey his word, or to render to the Lord according to his benefits.". I should be willing to know what he means by special grace, since there is no such distinction of grace spoken of in scripture that I know of; nor do I know of any. thing in scripture that warrants a belief that he requires obedience to his word without furnishing grace sufficient for whatever he requires; otherwise we